Broken Suspension on R1T 😫 during PNW Rivian group trip: WA BDR.

[jjswan33]

So we had a plan to meet up and do an overlanding mission with our trucks (Myself, @mgc0216, @SeaGeo, @kylealden). The plan was to charge in Yakima Saturday morning then pick up the WA BDR (Backcountry discovery route) towards Ellensburg to charge then continue the WA BDR to Cashmere then head to Leavenworth to charge up and head on our way.

I personally was in Bellevue getting my DF hub replaced at the end of the week, so left there and drove over Chinook Pass in the Rivian and found a camping spot west of Yakima for Friday night, then we met the others in Yakima Saturday morning.

I got the latest update installed just before we left Yakima so was excited to try that out. I did test it while parked downhill for lunch and seemed to work well, albeit slowly. Also camp courtesy is great, no more sounds or bright lights when locking/unlocking the truck.

Unfortunetaly for me disaster strikes day one of the trip. The suspension on the PF wheel appears to be leaking such that the truck is nearly sitting on the wheel, definitely rubs if you turn to sharply. It’s a shame because the trail was not overly technical so not sure what the failure point was, we had a few theories but anyones guess. We were able limp my truck to a nice spot to camp for the night then continue to limp out to Ellensburg. This did happen not long after using the camp level feature for lunch but not sure it’s related, though It is possible. After the damage to the suspension I was having a lot of issues with overheating the compressor, it also limited me some due to camp mode and it trying to reset the level on our way out which limited me to 8mph but I was able to reset that issue.

Rivian has been very helpful but are limited in options since rental car agencies in Ellensburg as well as the service center in Bellevue are closed until Tuesday. So they have agreed to reimburse me for the hotel stay for the weekend and my dog and I will ride it out through the holiday. I’ll make the best of it but sad we couldn’t continue our journey to Cashmere.

I‘m sure the others will be able to post much better pictures as we had a dedicated camera person(s).

9/7 Update: They found a leak in passenger front damper. They replaced it and inspected the rest of the suspension and all is good.

Sponsored

 

[Dirty_B]

Anyway to check for an air leak in that line? If compressor is overheating could be it's running to unsuccessfully fill suspension...

Good lesson learned to have some splice/unions and some tubing on hand but then what does that do for warranty?

My suggestion to Rivian, for an adventure vehicle of this nature, is to put out an owner bulletin in the faq with some tips on troubleshooting and repair, and offer such a kit in the store to replace/repair air tube issues on a trail.

Wasn't trail rescue part of Rivian offering?

 

[Ash]

Yeah, sounds like a leaky fitting with the pump spinning it's wheels. A small leak can be found with soapy water. Big leaks should be obvious. Sorry to hear about your trip being cut short. Please let us know once you learn the actual cause so we can prepare a field kit if possible.

 

[sierraskier]

Sounds like either a punctured air bag or leaking fitting, causing the compressor to continuously cycle.

EDIT to add that I carry a spare Keldermann air bag for this very situation as part of my Earthroamer field kit....pray I never have to actually replace one in the field, as jacking the camper off the frame is tricky

 

[jjswan33]

@Dirty_B, @Ash, @sierraskier.

Yeah, I think a leak somewhere as well. I did take the tire off on that side and had a look but couldn’t see anything. I think I can hear a leak when it is under load but when I had it jacked up not so much.

I think it is a slow leak as well, when the compressor is not overheated it will raise the car for a short bit. Then all of the sudden after a few minutes the front goes into a crouch, more so on the passenger side.

New tire a couple weeks ago as well, so listening to the rubbing was painful.

 

[Dark-Fx]

I noticed the suspension gets wonky afterward if you leveled where the truck has to compensate corner to corner. It's like it doesn't know how much air to put into the other two corners after it goes back to normal. I could see something getting damaged if you rushed that process, even at 8 mph if it's off-road.

 

[cbuckley]

Wasn't trail rescue part of Rivian offering?

That’s what they initially claimed but I doubt they can deliver that service or advertise that much anymore.

When I was contacted by my guide back in Feb to let me know that my vehicle was imminent, I let him know that I was having second thoughts because I am 3 hours from nearest service center. He reassured me that Rivian provided a “white gloves” service experience and that they would send a mobile tech to my location should I have any issues. Unfortunately, this was not true and I have been asked to drive my vehicle 3 hours to the nearest service center each time I have had to reach out to service and have not once been offered a mobile tech. Rivian did arrange for my vehicle to be towed to Houston when I had a hydraulic leak that made the vehicle unsafe to drive - I didn’t expect a mobile tech to be able to address that.

 

[Guy]

That’s what they initially claimed but I doubt they can deliver that service or advertise that much anymore.

When I was contacted by my guide back in Feb to let me know that my vehicle was imminent, I let him know that I was having second thoughts because I am 3 hours from nearest service center. He reassured me that Rivian provided a “white gloves” service experience and that they would send a mobile tech to my location should I have any issues. Unfortunately, this was not true and I have been asked to drive my vehicle 3 hours to the nearest service center each time I have had to reach out to service and have not once been offered a mobile tech. Rivian did arrange for my vehicle to be towed to Houston when I had a hydraulic leak that made the vehicle unsafe to drive - I didn’t expect a mobile tech to be able to address that.

Sorry to hear about your experience. Service does seem to be an issue for Rivian. They need to open more SCs (and hubs would be nice too) soon.

 

[cbuckley]

Sorry to hear about your experience. Service does seem to be an issue for Rivian. They need to open more SCs (and hubs would be nice too) soon.

Everything is good now with my R1T but I had a rough go for the first few months between registration issues and some mechanical problems.

I made the mistake of selling my other vehicle shortly after taking delivery of my R1T. I was a little naïve and overly optimistic that I would not need a third vehicle for my wife and me because everything seemed perfect upon arrival.

 

[SoCal Rob]

Sorry to hear that your adventure didn’t go as planned.

I was concerned about this sort of thing with the air suspension when we got our LR3. Maybe more concerned since we are typically on our own. A suspension failure 10+ miles from cell service could mean that we can’t drive out of a place we got to in off-road height.

I bought a tool which can be plugged into the OBDII port so I can use a companion app on my phone to manually extend some or all of the air springs. If we lost a sensor or ruptured an air spring, this would allow me to force as much height as possible on whatever remains working so we could drive out. I hope. We have a pretty complete off-road kit just in case.

It would be great if Rivian gives us a way to override the air suspension or at least deal with a failure more gracefully than the LR3 does. If the LR3 detects a severe error in the electronic air suspension it lowers to the bump stops and shuts down the compressor. Having a way of overriding that behavior can make the difference between driving home (or at least limping to civilization) and hiking to cell coverage.

 

[Arky]

My suggestion to Rivian, for an adventure vehicle of this nature, is to put out an owner bulletin in the faq with some tips on troubleshooting and repair, and offer such a kit in the store to replace/repair air tube issues on a trail.

Hopefully they'll learn eventually, as it stands this really is more for the whole foods adventure than anything really remote. Sometimes things break, and people have to have a way to override or fix it because there's no one to do it for you in the places where real 'adventures' happen.

 

[EV-X Oregon]

So we had a plan to meet up and do an overlanding mission with our trucks (Myself, @mgc0216, @SeaGeo, @kylealden). The plan was to charge in Yakima Saturday morning then pick up the WA BDR (Backcountry discovery route) towards Ellensburg to charge then continue the WA BDR to Cashmere then head to Leavenworth to charge up and head on our way.

I personally was in Bellevue getting my DF hub replaced at the end of the week, so left there and drove over Chinook Pass in the Rivian and found a camping spot west of Yakima for Friday night, then we met the others in Yakima Saturday morning.

I got the latest update installed just before we left Yakima so was excited to try that out. I did test it while parked downhill for lunch and seemed to work well, albeit slowly. Also camp courtesy is great, no more sounds or bright lights when locking/unlocking the truck.

Unfortunetaly for me disaster strikes day one of the trip. The suspension on the PF wheel appears to be leaking such that the truck is nearly sitting on the wheel, definitely rubs if you turn to sharply. It’s a shame because the trail was not overly technical so not sure what the failure point was, we had a few theories but anyones guess. We were able limp my truck to a nice spot to camp for the night then continue to limp out to Ellensburg. This did happen not long after using the camp level feature for lunch but not sure it’s related, though It is possible. After the damage to the suspension I was having a lot of issues with overheating the compressor, it also limited me some due to camp mode and it trying to reset the level on our way out which limited me to 8mph but I was able to reset that issue.

Rivian has been very helpful but are limited in options since rental car agencies in Ellensburg as well as the service center in Bellevue are closed until Tuesday. So they have agreed to reimburse me for the hotel stay for the weekend and my dog and I will ride it out through the holiday. I’ll make the best of it but sad we couldn’t continue our journey to Cashmere.

I‘m sure the others will be able to post much better pictures as we had a dedicated camera person(s).

Sorry about the troubles on your trip.... bummer(s). Just curious what app this is you are using for the mapping?

 

[SeaGeo]

Well, I would ioad some pics as wel, but the forum says they aren't pictures.

It was definitely a but painful watching @jjswan33 truck rollaround on the bump stops. Being able to turn without hitting the wheel well would have made a huge difference.

 

[HalcyonRider]

BDR! That's fantastic you are using their routes. I've done the CO and NM BDR on a motorcycle and totally look forward to trying them out with a Rivian. Sorry to hear of the complications. I hope it gets resolved sooner than later. Getting your hotel comped is a compromise but at least it is something.

I must say I am eager to see more pics from the others.

 

[jjswan33]

Sorry about the troubles on your trip.... bummer(s). Just curious what app this is you are using for the mapping?

It’s Gaia GPS. I use it on my IPad.

Poking the bear a bit but would be a huge advantage of having Apple CP in the Rivian and use the trucks screen for Gaia tracking, offline map use.

Sponsored